The situation of refused Afghan refugees
"Afghanistan is the second to last least peaceful country on earth" -Global Peace Index 2017
For decades there has been war in Afghanistan. It all started with the invasion of the soviets in 1979. This lasted for more than 10 years, but after the last Soviet troops left, the civil war continued. In 1996 the Taliban started to seize more control in Afghanistan. Since then, they haven’t stopped, with several other terrorist groups operating within the sovereign borders of Afghanistan. Civilians are in danger and are forced to flee the country to survive. A small part of those refugees end up in the Netherlands. The numbers of the Dutch government show that in the first five months of 2017, 8 percent of the asylum applications in the Netherlands come from Afghanistan. From that 8 percent, 64 percent of those applications for international protection are turned down because according to the Dutch government, the applicants don’t have a well-founded fear of persecution or inhuman treatment in their home country. Yet, research and numbers show differently.
According to a letter from Amnesty (dated October fifth, 2017) there is a threat of serious harm to all Afghans as a result of the ongoing conflict. Additionally many people in the country are at risk of violations of their basic human rights. The UN Committee Against Torture (CAT), which is responsible for overseeing the implementation of the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, expressed its grave concern for torture in Afghanistan. They claim there is a widespread acceptance en legitimation of torture in Afghan society. On top of the inhumane treatment through torture and other Human Rights violations, the Afghan authorities are understaffed, under equipped and are therefore unable to protect the civilians. As a consequence a climate of impunity and a weak rule of law arises at the cost of innocent civilians.
In the current situation, certain risk groups are granted an asylum status and are allowed to stay within the EU. Those risk groups consist of women who work at non-governmental organisations, foreigners who belong to ethnic minorities and who converted to Christianity and LGBT’s. The Afghans who are not granted an asylum status, are forced to go back to Afghanistan. According to the General Office report Afghanistan (Algemeen Ambtsbericht Afghanistan) composed by the Dutch government, the foreigners who are send back to Afghanistan are solely depending on their family and own network. 75 percent of the people who are send back, have to go to another place in the country because of the danger and insecurity. Once they are elsewhere, they are unable to reconstruct their previous life due to the lack of connections. Most of the people who are send back are living under tremendous conditions, which are increasingly worsening due to the deteriorating economical situation, the decrease in international humanitarian assistance, and the drastic lack of adequate housing, food, and water. Therewithal, the refugees often have no money for healthcare. This environment encourages unethical practices such as child labour. Statistically, over twenty percent of the refugees who are sent back, depend on the earnings of a minor.
In 2016, an agreement was signed between the EU and Afghanistan, so called: Joint Way Forward. It allowed the member states to deport an unlimited number of asylum seeker and obligated the Afghan government to receive them. The EU pays 300 million euro’s until 2020 for the reconstruction of Afghanistan. The goal of the agreement is to establish a rapid, effective and manageable process for a smooth, dignified and orderly return of Afghan nationals who do not qualify for international protection. The EU promises reintegration programmes, to help build up the law enforcement agencies. Regarding the safety in Afghanistan, attempts from the EU to help have not resulted in a clear progress. As proof, the country has been considered one of the most dangerous countries of the world for the past six years. Even though there is a drop of 6 percent of civilian victims, which is accountable to the attempts of the pro-government groups to reduce ground-fights, Afghanistan is the second to last least peaceful country on earth (Global Peace Index 2017).
Afghanistan is deeply unsafe, and has become more so in recent years. Even though the European Union acknowledges that there is a deteriorated security situation with a record level of terrorist attacks aggravated by a deteriorating economic situation, the European countries are still deporting individuals back to Afghanistan. Some of the people who are sent back to Afghanistan are at real risk of serious harm. This means that the governments who sends them back are in breach of the principle of non-refoulement. Nevertheless, the deportation continues. It is our job to stand up against the hypocrisy of the Dutch government in this matter.
Join the demonstration against the deportation of Afghan refugees.
Sunday the 18th of February, 14:00 o’clock @ Dam.